The Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University celebrated the 8th annual Spector Lectureship in the Biology of Cancer on April 2. Invited speaker Patrick Ha, MD, shared his efforts to better understand adenoid cystic carcinoma.
Ha currently serves as professor and chief of Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) at the University of California, San Francisco. He also holds the Irwin Mark Jacobs and Joan Klein Jacobs Distinguished Professorship in Head and Neck Surgery.
Ha’s clinical expertise covers the full breadth of head and neck surgery, including a focus on thyroid and parathyroid surgery, as well as endoscopic laser and transoral robotic approaches for throat cancers. His current area of research is focused on the molecular changes occurring in salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma.
The Spector Lectureship celebrates the career of head and neck surgeon Gershon Spector, MD, professor emeritus of the Department of Otolaryngology. The annual celebration has grown beyond a simple grand rounds lecture to now include a discussion of select case studies with residents; a cancer research symposium; and a public cancer survivor lecture.
Following the morning lecture, residents presented Ha with a variety of case studies to get his thoughts on the best approaches to thoughtful diagnosis and patient care in each scenario. This year, case studies were offered by ENT residents James Bao, MD, Andrew Charap, MD, Amrita Hari-Raj, MD, Chad Nieri, MD, and Joe Roh, MD.
Head and neck cancer research a campus-wide effort
The day’s events continued next with a research symposium to showcase campus-wide efforts to learn more about head and neck cancer and improve patient care. The full agenda of presentations can be seen here.
Research Symposium organizer R. Alex Harbison, MD, noted the success of the event.
“The research symposium was nothing short of inspirational,” he said. “We had an outstanding representation of head and neck cancer research across the university —everything from a novel antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of head and neck cancer to the clinical impact of performing tonsillectomy on one or both sides in tonsil cancers. At WashU Med there is some very exciting work in preclinical models, tumor biology, immunology, and metabolism.”
Awards for best research presentations were a new part of the symposium this year. Recipients of the 8th Annual J. Gershon Spector Research Symposium Best Podium Presentations were:
- Clinical Research: Andrew Peterson, MD, MSCI
- Translational Research: Jesse Zaretsky, MD, PhD
- Basic Science: Alex Sample
Survivorship lecture highlights practice-changing developments
The final event of the day was a public lecture for cancer survivors and their families and caregivers. Ha shared some of the recent developments in our understanding of head and neck cancer that are improving patient care.
Following the lecture, WashU Medicine head and neck surgeons Jason Rich, MD, and Ryan Jackson, MD, shared updates on the bimonthly Cancer Survivor Group Meetings and improvements in access to cancer care afforded by the new Siteman Head and Neck Cancer Center, the only cancer center of it’s kind in the world.
“At the Head and Neck Cancer Survivor Symposium, we had an inspirational gathering of head and neck cancer survivors, caregivers, and healthcare providers,” said Rich. “Despite tornado warnings and bad weather, 109 people attended! Dr. Ha delivered a wonderful lecture explaining the exciting, new era of patient-specific cancer treatment and immunotherapy, which was very well received by our patients and caregivers. The reception that followed was a wonderful opportunity to mingle and celebrate with our cancer survivors.”
Head and Neck Surgery Division Chief Sid Puram, MD, PhD, commented on the continued success of the event.
“This year’s expanded format for our Spector Lectureship with adjoining research symposium and survivorship event continued to build on the momentum from the past few years,” said Puram. “We were fortunate to have Dr. Patrick Ha as our guest lecturer. He led with an inspiring talk about adenoid cystic carcinoma and the underlying biology of invasion and metastasis. This disease is a stubborn one that challenges us time and time again, so to learn more about the future direction of the field was very inspiring to the whole team. Dr. Ha was very impressed by the breadth and depth of our comprehensive program as well as the incredible level of engagement across the service line. The progress with the Head and Neck Tumor Center, in particular, struck him as a unique offering to our patients and an area in which we are pushing the envelope in patient-centric care and our research mission.”